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Key MLB Awards Dates to Watch for Atlanta Braves Players
The major awards season is around the corner for Major League Baseball. While the Players Choice Awards and accolades from publications have been dropped, we await the biggest hardware of them all.
Some Atlanta Braves players should be in the running for some of these awards – or at least be finalists for them. Let’s look at some key dates that are relevant to Braves who are up for or are expected to be up for awards in November.
This is a very jam-packed day. Buckle up.
The first major award that will be up for grabs by a Braves player is the Hank Aaron Award. Named after the Braves legend, the award aims to recognize some of the top offensive performers from the season.
Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna is the Braves rep who is up for the award.
The All-MLB First and Second Teams will be announced. Five Braves players have a shot to be on either team.
First Base: Matt Olson
DH: Marcell Ozuna
Starting Pitchers: Chris Sale and Reynaldo López
Relief Pitcher: Raisel Iglesias
Then, there is Comeback Player of the Year. Chris Sale has already won it during the Players Choice Awards and for Sporting News. That could be a sign he’ll take it home a third time when the writers at MLB.com decide their winner.
A reliever in each league will be named the Reliever of the Year – named for Trevor Hoffman in the NL and Mariano Rivera in the AL – be on the lookout for Raisel Iglesias who was stellar for the Braves this season. He had a 1.95 ERA and had a run of 30 games without giving up a run.
Lastly, there is the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. There is one winner. It will likely be Shohei Ohtani, but it can’t hurt to look out for Ozuna.
Like with the Gold Glove Awards, the Silver Slugger Award will be handed out to a player at each position.
The lone Braves finalist this season is once again Ozuna. Now, he’s up against Shohei Ohtani. It might be some of the stiffest competition for an award that anyone has.
But since he is a finalist nonetheless, we’ll be on the lookout.
The National League Rookie of the Year finalists have yet to be announced, so we mention this date. Starting pitcher Spencer Scwellenbach had a phenomenal rookie season, but he has stiff competition.
San Diego Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill has felt like a favorite for a bit as does Pittsburgh Pirates starter Paul Skenes. Shota Imanaga looked good in his first MLB season over in Chicago with the Cubs. The odds are stacked against him, but maybe he’ll be a surprise finalist.
Brian Snitker is not likely to be named the National League Manager of the Year. But we don’t even know the finalists yet, so until then, we mark the date.
Chris Sale is without a doubt the clear Cy Young frontrunner in the National League. He took home the first NL Triple Crown since 2011 – 18 wins, 2.35 ERA and 225 strikeouts.
Triple Crown winners win the award more often than not. He won Outstanding Pitcher of the Year at the Players Choice Awards. His peers like him. Now, it’s up to the writers to agree.
Again, maybe Ozuna is a finalist for the award. It looked certain at one point he would at least be one. But after going on a bit of a production slump down the stretch, it’s to be determined.
If he is, he’ll likely get the honor of finishing third behind Shohei Ohtani and New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor.
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The public is getting its first look at the two pandas that will be heading from China to Zoo Atlanta.
NBC’s Janis Mackey Frayer was able to visit female Fu Shuang and male Ping Ping before they make the nearly 8,000-mile flight. The giant pandas are both 6 years old and are headed to the United States as part of a new decade-long conservation agreement between China and the U.S.
Ping Ping’s keepers say he tends to follow them around, which is atypical behavior for a panda, but may be because of the food they have for him. Fu Shuang — which translates to “double happiness” — is playful, but nervous, and enjoys placing her chin on her paw. She also likes apples and has a penchant for finding them.
“Because we will hide pieces of apples, for example under the tree … she can find them everywhere,” panda keeper Wang Shun told Mackey Frayer, noting her “clever” behavior.
The pandas are part of an international cooperative research agreement on giant panda conservation between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, a renewal of panda diplomacy between America and China that began in 1972.
“Zoo Atlanta is delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species and to partner with the China Wildlife Conservation Association on the continued conservation and research efforts that are the most important outcomes of this cooperation,” Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King said in a statement in April.
“We can’t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our Members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas.”
Pandas are already at zoos in Washington, D.C., and San Diego. Zoo Atlanta maintained a panda agreement with China from 1999 until 2024, when Lun Lun and Yang Yang went back to their home country, along with their two youngest cubs.
Animal behaviorist James Ayala marvels at how pandas mature.
“You see cubs and they seem so cuddly and clumsy and cute. And then they grow up into these big, majestic bears,” he told Mackey Frayer.
Fu Shuang and Ping Ping will be transported further south into a mountainous region where they will be prepped to make the trip to the U.S. It is unknown when they will leave.
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